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'Longmire' star sees fan-base crossover

NEW YORK — Actress Katee Sackhoff has a confession: She’s obsessed with TV personality Bethenny Frankel.

“She’s probably a kindred spirit of mine,” said Sackhoff, who stars on the A&E series Longmire. “She’s my sister from another mother (and) I’ve never met her.”

Frankel became famous as one of the cast members of The Real Housewives of New York. She’s written several books and recently debuted a talk show on Fox. Sackhoff says she follows her on Twitter.

“I’ve never met somebody in the public eye who speaks as honestly as I do,” Sackoff says of Frankel, “and it’s refreshing, because there are times where I question whether or not people can actually handle the truth or if they want it. I’m a very open book about who I am. I think it’s the only way to kind of touch people, and she’s done it. It’s pretty amazing.”

Sackhoff, 32, has had success playing women who aren’t shrinking violets.

She starred as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace on Battlestar Galactica, which made her a fan boy sex symbol. Now she’s holding her own as Deputy Sheriff Victoria “Vic” Moretti on Longmire, based on the best-selling novels by Craig Johnson.

Robert Taylor plays Sheriff Walt Longmire. The show airs its first-season finale Sunday.

Sackhoff says she enjoys playing Vic.“I love the fact that she walks into a room and she wakes you up. She’s loud, she’s fast and she’s great at her job, and she says things that she probably shouldn’t say and she does things that she probably shouldn’t do,” she says.

“I think that she’s probably the closest that I’ve played to myself, which is really fun.”

Longmire premiered to 4.1 million viewers, making it A&E’s top-rated original series premiere ever. It’s been picked up for a second season.

“(The ratings are) four times what Battlestar used to get an episode. It’s a hit and it’s really weird. I feel this fondness for it that I felt toward Battlestar,” Sackhoff says.

She credits supporters of Battlestar Galactica with helping make Longmire a success.

“I do believe that loyal fan base is a large chunk of our viewership. I think that they’re amazing and I’m incredibly lucky and our show is lucky and Battlestar was lucky. You know, they’ll probably follow me into romantic comedies which would be nice,” she laughed.

The series is filmed in New Mexico, which Sackhoff says is an adjustment for her.

“In Santa Fe, it’s really dry, really high in the mountains and really close to the sun. … I’ve always tried to be as close to water as possible, and there it’s not as possible.”